Health delays worry Belém

At a time when there are signs of concern for the health of the Portuguese, which is the number of Portuguese who do not have a family doctor, which reaches nearly one and a half million people, the Minister of Health, Manuel Pizarro, promised in Parliament to “multiple attendance.” Measures of a structural and circumstantial nature ». Some of these measures include Continuing the USF Model [Unidade de Saúde Familiar] and facilitating the transition from Model A to Model B,” whose performance is compensated with incentives and recognition that the USF Model C, i.e., private management, can be temporarily created to respond to a shortage of family physicians. Another measure includes opening more vacancies to train specialists in areas of greatest need. In this regard, the Minister announced that the 2023 training competition in the specialty of general medicine and family medicine will include 200 vacancies in the Lisbon region and the Tagus Valley.

However, months are passing and so far there are no signs of progress in legislation in this regard. And according to Nascer do SOL, this delay is a source of concern for the President of the Republic.

Concerning the shortage of family physicians, the Secretary of Health acknowledged the creation of temporary Form C Family Health Units (USFs), especially to attract retired physicians and physicians who do not wish to work in the SNS.

Pizarro revealed that he is considered “in a transitional period where there is a shortage of family doctors to solve the problem of some societies.”

But Manuel Pizarro was thwarted the following week in Parliament, within the scope of the debate on the state budget for 2023, with the failure of the proposals put forward on this issue, with a vote against it by most of the parliamentary seats, including the Socialist Party. On the other hand, PS agreed to a budget in which there is no reference to USF’s new B model.

However, the limitations that have emerged over the past few months in the emergency services, in units from the north to the south of the country, are indicative that the situation will tend to get worse in the coming year.

As the Minister announced at the end of October, “Portugal will have in 2023 a total of 2,054 vacancies for specialized medical training, the largest ever map of vacancies, representing an increase of 115 vacancies compared to 2022, when it opened. 1939 ».

Nomu, highlighted at the time, the outcome of “the commitment of the Ministry of Health and partner institutions to train specialized physicians to enhance human resources in social health care services, with its direct effects on citizens’ access to quality and distinguished care.” Next year, the specialty of general medicine and family medicine was the highest with the highest number of vacancies (574), an increase of 53 compared to 2022, but among these only 200 are to train physicians in the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region, also 24 more than the competition The last to get to the specialized boarding school.

With regard to vacancies for trainees who will start their specialization on January 1, 2023, there were other specialties that also recorded an increase, such as anesthesiology, with 85 vacancies, five more positions compared to 2022, gynecology / obstetrics with 54, and six others, which was not high. Very since 2010.